How to conduct heating in the apartment with your own hands?

Many urban apartments today have central heating. It just so happened that the main housing stock in our cities is included in the service sector of public utilities. First of all, this refers to the issues of providing heat supply to city apartments during the heating season. The quality of the centralized heat supply system to consumers has always left much to be desired. The reason lies in the inefficiency of the existing service order. In addition, the rise in energy prices makes people look for alternative ways to heat their own homes.

Many apartment owners are trying to switch to autonomous heating of the apartment. What difficulties do you have to face in this case and how to make heating with your own hands — these are the main issues that concern our citizens today. Let’s try together to solve the problem, to find answers to urgent questions.

Want to have your own heating. Action algorithm

Obtain permission to disable

The desire of residents to improve the heating of their own apartment during the cold period is natural, if we take into account how central heating works in our homes and what expenses we have to bear for a communal apartment. At first glance, everything is simple. There is money, take and install a boiler at home and heat it as you please. But there is one significant «but». In our country, the independence of citizens, even in terms of managing their property, has its limitations. We are forced to heat our own housing using the services of public utilities. Any attempt to change the order of life support for a city apartment runs into obstacles from the state.

Energy companies are monopolists in the heat supply market, and the state helps them in this by artificially limiting the ability of citizens to switch to autonomous sources of energy supply. A do-it-yourself heating system in an apartment is most often the result of a grueling struggle between residents and regulatory authorities. The whole problem is how to get permission to disconnect from the district heating. Existing technical standards do not allow you to independently obtain the right to autonomous heating of a city apartment without permission, even despite the fact that the Civil Code of the Russian Federation does not directly prohibit such actions for homeowners and the owner of the apartment has the right to refuse the services of a centralized heating system at any time. heat supply.

Important! Unauthorized shutdown of elements of the in-house heating system is prosecuted by law and refers to administrative offenses. Article 7.21 of the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Violations gives a clear idea of ​​the responsibility of tenants in this regard.

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To organize independent heating of your apartment with your own hands means at the initial stage only one thing. You will have to independently seek official permission to turn off the central heating. Already at this stage, you need to decide which type of home heating is best for you.

On a note: in high-rise buildings (more than 9 floors) there is no centralized gas supply in order to increase the safety of the operation of housing facilities. Therefore, gas heating is acceptable mainly for residents of old apartment buildings, where there is a centralized supply of domestic gas.

What to use heating, gas or electricity — you decide. The main thing is that the project meets the necessary building codes and safety standards.

The project must specify all the necessary technical parameters of heating devices, the plan and diagram of their connection, as well as detailed hydraulic calculations. Only after all bureaucratic issues have been resolved can one directly deal with the technical side of the issue.

Dismantling of old heating

Having dealt with the energy company and received permission to turn off, you can proceed to the next stage — dismantling the piping system and radiators of the house system in the apartment. In this situation, you cannot do without the help of a management company or a housing office. It is necessary to coordinate with these services the procedure for disconnecting the apartment from the internal heat supply communications. Only then can dismantling begin.

In the process of work, it is necessary to strictly adhere to the sequence, cutting out exactly those nodes and elements of the system that correspond to the scheme. Otherwise, if there is a violation of the heat supply to other apartments, you will have to answer not only for sabotage under the law, but also bear the financial costs associated with paying a fine. It will be necessary to restore damaged house communications at your own expense.

Work should begin with the dismantling of the main wiring elements. To give integrity to the central heating circuit, which is now useless for you, it is better to replace the riser by inserting a new steel pipe of the same diameter instead of the old pipe. Having isolated yourself from the central heating supply, proceed to dismantle the old pipelines and turn off the heating devices. Having isolated from the central heating supply, proceed with dismantling and shutting down.

For reference! There is a mandatory rule. It is strongly not recommended to use old wiring and radiators for new heating systems. Inconsistency of technical parameters, large contamination can lead to technological violations during the operation of autonomous heating.

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Overview of the necessary equipment for an independent heating system

Gas or electricity. What’s better

Do-it-yourself heating installation begins with a study of the project. All work must be carried out in strict accordance with the technical documentation. Changing the method of heating an apartment on the go, installing a boiler with a larger capacity than indicated in the project and increasing the number of radiators is fraught with trouble.

Retreat: During the test run of the finished heating system, a heating engineer is always present, who is responsible for the functionality of the new gas equipment. In case of obvious discrepancies between the available equipment and the technical data specified in the project, you may be refused the issuance of an official conclusion on the commissioning of gas heating.

Therefore, it is necessary to decide in advance what is better for you — gas heating or electric, which heating devices to install. The following requirements must be taken into account:

• coordination of project documentation with an energy company supplying gas or electricity;
• when equipping gas heating, it will be necessary to install a coaxial chimney to the street;
• in the case of electric heating, it will be necessary to re-equip the home electrical wiring, install a three-phase meter and circuit breakers;
• apartments equipped with gas boilers need to install supply and exhaust ventilation;
• direct connection of the boiler to the pipeline, carrying out start-up work is carried out by an authorized person, a representative of the gas distribution organization.

How to properly connect heating equipment, how to install a boiler and start the entire heating system in accordance with established standards, it is better to contact specialists for these and other issues.

It is appropriate to recall that choosing electric heating will not give you advantages and real savings. Heating an apartment directly with electricity is an expensive pleasure. Only when installing a multi-tariff meter will you be able to achieve a tangible economic effect. Often, restrictions on the operation of electric heating impose a set limit on consumption. Overexpenditure of electricity will lead to unforeseen expenses for light, to a deterioration in the temperature regime.

Gas boiler. What are the options?

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Having decided for yourself the cardinal question — the apartment will have gas heating, start with an assessment of the market for heating equipment. Here it is necessary to take into account not only heat losses, but also the limited area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe apartment, the number of inhabitants and their own domestic needs.

When choosing the type of heating boiler, make the main emphasis on the wall-mounted model. Today, the market for such equipment is quite widely represented. You can always choose both a gas and an electric boiler of the appropriate power. You should not immediately grab onto models with high power. For a city apartment, you can get by with a 6-10 kW boiler. An approximate calculation applies here — 1 kW of thermal energy is needed to heat 10 m² of living space with average thermal characteristics of the walls.. To this figure, you can add 10-15% for heat losses.

On a note: the power of heating boilers is taken literally — without any allowances and coefficients, since modern models have a high efficiency.

The purchase of a double-circuit gas boiler is the best option to get real independence from central heating and hot water supply. How to make heating in an apartment with your own hands using electricity, the answer is simple — you can use wall-mounted heating units with heating elements.

On a note: installation of electric boilers equipped with induction or electrode heaters will require additional installation of equipment and a control panel.

You can install a warm floor in the apartment, but in this case, the best option would be not an electric, but a water floor. This method of heating is very convenient, since a water-heated floor can be connected to the main heating circuit.

Mounting. Step by step guide to action

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The wiring can be carried out with both metal and plastic pipes.

Making plastic heating with your own hands is much easier and easier than working with steel pipes and valves.

The latter option looks preferable, since it does not require welding, everything is done neatly and quickly. Polypropylene pipes are durable and not subject to internal corrosion. Do-it-yourself heating from plastic pipes is much easier than working with steel pipes.

In the event that the boiler is equipped with a circulation pump, for heating a small two-room apartment, the option with a single-pipe heating system, in which the number of radiators does not exceed 4-5 pieces, will be optimal.

The diagram shows that for a single-pipe system, it is ideal to connect radiators diagonally. In this case, the coolant will be in full contact with the entire inner surface of the batteries.

For apartments with a larger living area, you need to use a two-pipe system, and if you plan to connect a warm floor and a hot water system, you will also need a double-circuit boiler. The heating efficiency of all radiators in an apartment with a two-pipe system is higher than with a single-circuit one. With a two-pipe heating system in an apartment, the lower wiring and the corresponding type of radiator connection are usually used. On the diagram you can see how the pipes are located in the apartment, how the batteries are connected and how the hot water supply is organized in the house. The circuit made of plastic pipes can be easily replaced or reconfigured if necessary.

Important! Installation of plastic heating systems is carried out only using reinforced polypropylene pipes. Unlike ordinary plastic pipes, such material is not subject to large linear expansion under the influence of high coolant temperature.

The pipe can be reinforced with fiberglass or aluminum foil. Thanks to this design, reinforced polypropylene pipes are able to withstand high pressure (up to 25 atm.) And significant heating, in the range of 70-90⁰C. Fiberglass reinforced pipes have a higher linear expansion and a tendency to flex when subjected to high temperatures. Therefore, it is very important for them to pay increased attention to compensating for thermal elongations.

To ensure the possibility of turning off each radiator separately, it is necessary to equip them with a shut-off valve and thermostats, with which it will be possible to regulate the heating temperature in the room.

Initially, decide which type of radiator suits you. Cast iron radiators are more reliable, but this type is characterized by high cost and bulkiness of the design itself. Bimetallic radiators are most widely used today in heating systems. The combination of steel and aluminum gives high performance to this material. Steel is able to withstand high pressure in the system, and aluminum has excellent heat dissipation.

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Low price, high manufacturability and ease of installation provide bimetallic radiators with high popularity. Batteries are mounted on brackets that are mounted directly into the walls. The optimal place for installing a radiator in an apartment is under the window, at a distance of no more than 10-12 cm from the windowsill and at the same distance from the floor. The distance between the panels and the rear wall of the radiator must not be less than 5 cm.

On a note: you should not install heating radiators on walls adjacent to neighboring apartments. In such a case, the connected radiator will heat you and your neighbors. You will pay for heating your neighbors out of your own pocket.

The type of connection of radiators to pipes is up to you. There are four options for connecting batteries to the pipeline:

• diagonal or cross;
• unilateral;
• bottom;
• single-pipe.

The diagram shows all four connection options with all the ensuing consequences.

Conclusion

Having completed the basic work on wiring and connecting radiators in the apartment, you can begin to connect the system to heat-generating equipment. You can set up the operation of the boiler in the presence of a specialist from the gas service. In his presence, it is necessary to check the operation of the gas boiler in all modes, to adjust the operation of the automation.

The video explains in detail how everything can be done with your own hands.